A Biblical Play
[The numbers are Page Numbers]
Cast:-
ANNAS
CAIAPHAS
SIMON Leaders of the Pharisees
JONATHAN
JUDAS ISCARIOT
A LEVITE
A MESSENGER
SPIRIT OF JUDGMENT
SPIRIT OF MERCY
THE PALACE OF CAIAPHAS
ANNAS, CAIAPHAS, SIMON, JONATHAN
(WEDNESDAY)
ANNAS
THE fellow's insolence exceeds all bounds :
He goes about the city to abuse
Our name and power. His miracles amaze
The ignorant populace, who flock to hear
The teaching of the thaumaturge, who speaks
The doctrine of Beelzebub, by whom
He does his works.
SIMON
That gross and shameful scene
Four days ago !—when on a foaled ass
He rode within the gates, and the multitude
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Laid down their robes, and branches in his way,
And cried Hosanna ! Hail to David's Son !
JONATHAN
You know young Saul? A man he is, devout
And learned too, and zealous for the law,
Gamaliel's favourite pupil. When he saw
The people so rejoicing foolishly,
He came to Jesus boldly, as he sat
Upon his ass in triumph, and he said,
"Seest thou this tumult, teacher, and the crowd
That cry for thee? Rebuke thy followers,
Lest some great danger to our city's peace
At this high feast, should follow from the scene."
CAIAPHAS
What said he?
JONATHAN
What do you think the madman said?
"If these should hold their peace," the boaster cried,
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"I tell you, that the very stones would cry,
Lift up their voice, and hail me Lord and King."
ANNAS
What? Lord and King? The man breaks all restraint
Of thought and tongue.
SIMON
Another tale I heard.
A family that lives at Bethany,
Poor people, often lodge him when he comes
To vex the city at our sacred feasts :
How one of them, a man named Lazarus,
Fell sick; they sent to fetch this friend of theirs
Who heals the sick; but ere he could arrive,
This Lazarus died, and when at last he came,
He found him four days dead, and buried.
ANNAS
Ha!
SIMON
Wait for the sequel; men who saw the thing
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Told me a story almost past belief:
He found the sisters mourning, and their friends
Come to console them for their brother's death,
And Jesus too was troubled, as they say,
And wept. And one remarked, "This man has healed
The leper, and has opened blinded eyes;
And could he not have wrought that Lazarus
Should not have died? " Whereat the man was stirred,
And went to view the grave, and with him came
The sisters and their friends. And when he came,
He straightway bade them take away the stone.
They said, "But, Master, he is dead four days,
He stinks by now." But since he bade them still
Have faith in his great power, they did his will.
And then (they say) he prayed, and praised the Lord,
And cried, "Come forth." And Lazarus came forth,
And I have seen and spoken with the man.
He swears he died; of course, it was a swoon,
But all the people heard about the thing,
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And hail this upstart as a prophet now,
With power from God even to raise the dead.
What shall we do? For many wondrous works
He seems to do, and if we let him go,
All men will follow, and believe on him;
And then the Romans will come down on us
With conquering eagles, and will sweep away
Our place and nation. What are we to do?
CAIAPHAS
Ignorant Pharisee ! you know not the time,
Nor think, it is expedient for us
That one man die, and save the nation all.
If Jesus die, the people perish not.
ANNAS
Sure, something must be done. Three days ago,
Flushed with the plaudits of the ignorant,
He entered in the temple, and when he saw
The money changers giving Jews that dwell
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Afar, the temple money for their gifts,
And merchants selling doves for offering,
He made a scourge of cords, and drove them forth
With blasphemous curses, larded with the words
Of Moses and the prophets.
SIMON
Blasphemy !
ANNAS
I sent a man to check the madman then,
Bidding him turn the children from their praise,
Who shouted still "Hosanna to the Son
Of David ! Blessed be the King that comes
In God's own holy name!" And he replied
"Have ye not read that from the mouths of babes
God perfects highest praise? "
SIMON
The man must die.
He keeps not the traditions of the law.
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I asked him once to supper at my house;
Before the meal he washed not, as the law
Commands ; I asked him, why he did not do
The will of God, and follow Moses' words.
JONATHAN
What did he say to that?
SIMON
That righteousness
Was not in keeping right observances,
But doing right, and loving God and man.
JONATHAN
What hideous blasphemy against the law
Of God most high and holy ! All the law
Is holy, just, and good. To swallow a gnat
Is even as murder or idolatry.
What said the prophet to the recreant king?
"To obey is better than to sacrifice,
To hearken than the fat of yearling rams.
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Rebellion is as witchcraft in its sin,
And stubbornness as gross iniquity."
The man must die the rebel's righteous death.
CAIAPHAS
I sent out questioners to catch his words,
That we might have some witness 'gainst the man
Of blasphemy or treason. He replied
With so much cunning that I know not yet
How we may have him.
ANNAS
Yet we needs must crush
A man of this unhinged, rebellions sort.
JONATHAN
He cursed the Pharisees in the name of God,
"Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,
Lawyers and priests," he said to all the Jews,
And bade them do not what we did, the priests
And rulers of the nations, we who sit
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In Moses' seat, and teach the words of God.
We needs must have him taken, and put to death.
CAIAPHAS
Not on the feast-day, lest the people rise
In uproar (for they love him), and the swords
Of Romans then be drawn within our streets,
And blood be shed at this most sacred feast,
And our most holy city be destroyed,
And all our race be sold to slavery.
ANNAS
You are right; but after, we shall take the man
On some grave treasonous charge, and rouse the mob
To force the governor to crucify
The traitor, and to rid us of our foe,
He is a danger to our state and place,
And must be crushed.
[Enter a Levite.]
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LEVITE
My lord, a man without
Desires to see you.
ANNAS
Let him wait awhile.
LEVITE
He says he comes about the very thing
You here discuss, and offers to betray
This Jesus to you.
CAIAPHAS
Bid him come within.
[The Levite goes out. Enter Judas.]
ANNAS
What is your business, fellow?
JUDAS
I am one
Who followed Jesus; closest confidence
I had of him. Of all who followed him
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He chose out twelve to be his nearest friends,
And I was one, and all the little store
Of money that we had he gave to me,
To keep, to buy our food, distribute alms,
And serve the business of our company.
I know where you may find him; if you wish
To take him, I will lead you to the spot
He most frequents.
ANNAS
If this is true you say,
We will accept your offer thankfully.
JUDAS
But what reward, what guerdon, will you give,
If I perform this? I have loved the man,
Have shared his toils and his necessities,
Have heard his preaching, seen his miracles
He wrought on men diseased, whenas he healed
The lepers, to the blind restored their sight,
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Or cured the maimed, the halting, or men smit
With strange disorders, ay, and raised the dead.
Shall I for nothing give him up to you?
CAIAPHAS
Thou shalt have large reward, thy work being done.
Tomorrow night be here, to take a band
To find him, and arrest him where he stays,
And when thou bringest him before us here,
We will bestow on thee thy recompense.
JUDAS
What earnest will you give me of reward ?
CAIAPHAS
Take thirty silver pieces.
JUDAS
Give me them.
[The thirty pieces are handed over.]
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CAIAPHAS
But they that you shall take know not the man,
And erring, they may seize on one of those
Who company with him. Now by what sign
Are they to know the leader from his men?
JUDAS
When I approach them, I will go the first,
And hail him "Master," and for further sign
Give him a kiss.
CAIAPHAS
A kiss?
JUDAS
Ay, with a kiss
I will betray him from his followers.
CAIAPHAS
Good. Go thou, and return tomorrow night.
Thou shalt not miss the guerdon of thy work.
[Judas goes out.]
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(FRIDAY MORNING)
THE SAME-ANNAS, CAIAPHAS, SIMON, JONATHAN
JONATHAN
'Tis well: the man is ours, good Caiaphas,
That Judas served us well. I went with him.
We found the teacher in Gethsemane,
Surrounded by his followers. As we came,
He rose to meet us, like a man in grief;
Yet as he boldly spoke to us, and asked
"Whom seek ye? " suddenly—I know not how—
Stunned at the moveless courage of the man,
Of some strange power behind his simple words,
We could not stir to take him. Judas seeing
Our strange amazement, went from forth of us,
And saying "Hail, good master," kissed him. Then,
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'Twixt sorrow and surprise, the teacher turned,
And said to him, "Friend, wherefore art thou come?
Dost thou betray me with a kiss? " And next,
To us, "I am he. If then ye seek my harm,
Let these depart who love me." One of them
Rushed suddenly forth, and drew his sword, and smote
Thy servant Malchus, cutting off his ear.
Jesus rebuked him; then,—I marvel how—
He took the ear, and lo ! on Malchus' cheek
It was restored. And then rebuking us
For threatening him with swords and staves, he said,
"This is the hour of Satan's victory,
The power of darkness." So we led him thence
All unresisting, to your judgment hall.
CAIAPHAS
The witness was not good, but 'twill suffice
To doom the fellow. Marked you how he stood,
Silent to all we asked, that we could bring
No straight confession out to serve our turn?
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SIMON
That was a clever trick of yours, to break
His silence. "Art thou Christ?"
ANNAS
"I am," he said;
What further had we need of witnesses?
His mouth condemned him. Now to Pilate's hall
JONATHAN
We must not go within the judgment hall
Of heathen Pilate, lest we be defiled,
And may not keep the holy feast of God.
[ Judas rushes in, with the thirty pieces of silver.]
JUDAS
You rulers, I have sinned, I have betrayed
The innocent blood, my wickedness is more
Than the all-judging God can e'er forgive,
My punishment is more than I can bear.
0 that meek face in dark Gethsemane,
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Those gentle words, "Friend, wherefore art thou come? "
He called me friend! And wherefore had I come?
To give him up to your revengeful rage,
And leave him naked to his deadliest foes!
Ah! "Woe," he said, "to him who shall betray
The Son of Man! Good were it for that man
If he had ne'er been born." 0 heaviest guilt !
You cursed priests and cruel Pharisees
Who so ensnared me !
ANNAS
Wherefore rail you thus?
JUDAS
What good shall life do Judas? 0 what good
Shall death do me, who am doomed to deepest hell ?
What good this silver, for the which I sold
The noblest and divinest man on earth?
CAIAPHAS
But what is that to us? See thou to that.
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JUDAS
My doom is heavy; yours shall not be light.
Ah ! woe to Judas ! deepest, deepest woe !
I have sinned! I have betrayed the innocent blood!
I have sinned! I have sinned!
[He casts down the money and rushes wildly out. The rest smile
at one another. Annas picks up the money.]
ANNAS
This money then is ours.
He does not seem to need it.
CAIAPHAS
Let us put
The silver in our temple treasury.
JONATHAN
It is not lawful: 'tis the price of blood.
CAIAPHAS
We have needed long some field, some plot of ground
To bury strangers. Let us buy a field
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For such a purpose with the money here.
But now we go to Pilate. He is weak;
The crowd is ours again.
SIMON
If we release
That fellow now, God's curse upon our heads,
And on our children's !
CAIAPHAS
Pilate is too weak
To stand against our elders and the mob.
Once we can get them howling "Crucify!"
The work is done, and we shall see him hang
In writhing agony upon a cross.
SIMON
So perish all who dare insult the law,
Or injure those who sit on Moses' seat.
[Enter Messenger.]
MESSENGER
My lord, the man who rushed but lately forth
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From this your chamber-room, has hanged himself,
He ran as though all devils that live in hell
Pursued him, till he reached a little field,
And there he hanged himself upon a tree,
Still shrieking, as in hopeless agony,
"I have sinned ! I am lost! Ah, Jesus, whom I wronged ! "
And there his body hangs.
ANNAS
Go, cut it down,
Lest any touch the thing and be defiled
Before the feast.
[Messenger goes out.]
ANNAS
Come forth to seal the doom
Of this vile heretic and foe of God,
And when we have seen him scourged and crucified,
We will prepare to keep the holy feast.
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IN HEAVEN
THE SPIRITS OF JUDGMENT AND MERCY
SPIRIT OF JUDGMENT
Woe to the doers of this deadly deed,
Who crucified the very Son of God!
Heavy account is theirs, which I must bear
Before the eternal throne of God.
SPIRIT OF MERCY
Alas!
But which do you account the guiltiest
Of all who bore their part in this fell crime?
How stands the Roman governor, who condemned
The Lord to die?
SPIRIT OF JUDGMENT
His burden is not small.
He knew him innocent; he spoke with him,
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He said, "I find no fault," and would have loosed
Jesus to life; and even his wife sent forth
To plead for Jesus. When he heard the cries
Of "Crucify him!" from the raging mob,
He yielded—O most wicked feebleness !—
And taking water, washed his bloody hands,
And said "I am innocent of this." And they,
"His blood on our's, and on our children's heads."
Not by such washing can the awful stain
Of innocent blood be cleansed.
SPIRIT OF MERCY
Alas for him!
Yet how, a Roman, should he know or care
Of Christ or blasphemy against the law?
They said he claimed to be a sovereign king,
And they—O wicked loyalty and wrong !—
Cried out "We have no king but him who reigns
In Rome, the mighty Caesar. Let him go,
This Jesus, and thou art not Caesar's friend."
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Whereat he trembled. Should he for a whim
Of these recalcitrant Jews, this turbulent race,
Risk Caesar's favour, or endanger so
His power and station? I will plead for him
Before the throne of the all-knowing God,
Therefore all-pitying and all-loving too,
Who knows the weaknesses of every man,
His faults, his virtues, and his silent fights
Against strange enemies that no man knows,
But only he himself and God.
SPIRIT OF JUDGMENT
Do so;
And may thy pleading in the heart of God
Prevail to ease the doom of Pilate's soul.
But what of those who shouted "Crucify!"
And howled for Pilate to condemn their king?
They chose Barabbas rather than their Lord,
And then when Pilate said, " I find no fault,"
And washed his hands, they cried with screaming voice,
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" His cursed blood on us and on our sons ! "
Are they not guilty of the death of Christ?
SPIRIT OF MERCY
Poor blinded mob ! They knew not what they did.
Jesus himself implored his Father's love
To pardon them, and those who drove the nails
Into his hands and feet.
SPIRIT OF JUDGMENT
It may be so,
For wondrous is the mercy of the Lord.
And yet how canst thou claim the pity of God
For treacherous Judas? His iniquity
Must sure avail to sink him to the depths,
Who having companied with Jesus Christ,
And been in the very bosom of his thoughts,
Betrayed him to his ruthless enemies,
To scourge and kill. He had eaten bread with Him,
That very night he had received the sop
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From Jesus' hands. And with that fatal sop
Came Satan into him, and out he went
Into the starry night of Palestine,
And that deep starless night of his own soul;
And all for money! 0 thou lust of gold,
Chief aid of Satan ! And thou hapless wretch
Who sold thy soul for money ! How can he
Obtain the mercy of the righteous God?
SPIRIT OF MERCY
Already he has suffered for his sin.
Didst thou not hearken to his hopeless cry,
" I have sinned," or see him rush among the trees
To hide himself from God whom he had wronged?
Didst not thou note the anguish of his mind,
The wild despair that tortured all his heart,
Till driven by the intolerable goads
Of all the good he had spurn'd, he flung himself,
Shuddering, from life, into the arms of death,
Upon the trees in fierce Aceldama?
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And shall not God hear such repentant cry,
Who pardoned David for his vilest deed,
And when he said, " I have sinned against the Lord,"
Answered, "The Lord hath put away thy sin"?
Perchance, perchance, even yet, the most high God
May pardon Judas, who has pardon asked.
And I will plead for him before the Lord.
SPIRIT OF JUDGMENT
May God forgive him ! I must witness yet
Against his soul in righteousness; yet God
Desireth mercy and not sacrifice.
But what of them, the authors of the deed,
Who set themselves as holier than the rest,
And flaunt their prayers and their phylacteries,
And plot their evil in the face of God,
And never ask for pardon, nay, nor dream
They need it? What of those whose cruelty
Arrested, doomed, and crucified their Lord,
Of whom inspired Moses spake, and all
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Who followed him, prophets and seers all?
Yet they in wilful blindness wrapped their souls,
That no new light might fall upon their eyes
From Heaven, but said, "We know the truth of God;
This people, knowing not the law, are cursed,
But we are God's own chosen favourite sons"—
And so they crucified the Lord of life.
O hypocrites, who wash your cups and plates,
And then reviled the messenger of God,
Who bade you cleanse your souls of wickedness,
Tithing the tiniest of the herbs of earth,
Spurning the weightier matters of the law,
Straining at gnats, and swallowing camels ! Ha!
Ay, what of them who when the penitent
Cast down his thirty pieces at their feet,
And said "I have sinned," flung back, "What is that to us?
See thou to that." What mercy can be found
In all the wealth of God's eternal store
To cover such immense iniquity?
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Canst thou, 0 Spirit of Mercy, yet find out
Excuse or pitiful plea for such as these?
SPIRIT OF MERCY
I know not.
SPIRIT OF JUDGMENT
What? Is God's own mercy dry
Of pardon? Is he weary of his grace?
SPIRIT OF MERCY
I had rather be upon the Judgment Day
Pilate or Judas, or upon my soul
Bear all the crimes of both, than stand to hear
God's doom on Annas or on Caiaphas,
Or any leader of the Pharisees.
God's pity is infinite beyond our ken;
But all the spirits of all heaven fail
To find out mercy for a Pharisee.
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